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Thursday, 26 September 2013

And one more time - Go for it Vapoteurs in the UK - pretty please!

Oh dear have been having a really hectic time with sick grandchildren so I haven't blogged for over a week! But I got myself into gear at the request of Chris Davies, MEP and I just produced another letter to my MEP's (I'm so tired of it) but I hope this sounds fresh?

Dear Ms Mccarthy, and Mr Simpson, copy sent to Linda MacAvan

I
am writing about something that the Labour Party is making an error on.
Linda MacAvan (Labour) is the Rapporteur for the Tobacco Directive
which meets to vote on October the 8th in the EU. She has been
determined to make electronic cigarettes "medical devices" and it is the
Labour Vote on that point that will turn what is now the one great
opportunity to cut back on the habit of smoking tobacco worldwide, to
the biggest error, by effectively banning electronic cigarettes as they
are now, legislating that they are "medical devices". Electronic
cigarettes are not medical devices. They are a safer alternative to
smoking! If Labour meddles with them, as they, the only party in the UK,
is trying to do, they show themselves up to be quite out of step with
the thinking of others, vapers, academia and doctors alike.

Electronic
cigarettes, as they are now, are THE best anti smoking tool to be given
to the anti tobacco industry in history. Each vaper that vapes, uses a
different setup to do so. We pay for our equipment ourselves. We choose
how we combine our equipment to provide us with the best experience so
that each one personally stays off tobacco. None of this is of any cost
to any Government. And electronic cigarettes have been invented and
spread worldwide without any impetus from Anti Tobacco

Electronic cigarettes are not a tobacco product.

Electronic cigarettes are not a medical product.

Electronic cigarettes are not a Nicotine Replacement Therapy.

Electronic cigarettes are a consumer product.

Electronic cigarettes are already quite tightly regulated in the UK.

Electronic cigarettes are a substitute for tobacco for smokers.

For
me, they have been miraculous. I gave up a fifty year smoking habit
accidentally and with no intention of stopping smoking by switching to
vaping. I am just one of millions of us in the European Union. The fact
that science has not kept up with recording how efficient electronic
devices are at stopping people smoking, is the fault of science, not the
fact that these consumer devices are brilliantly successful.

An
election will be upon us next year for MEP's and in 2015 for a General
Election. One and a half million tobacco users are now vaping in the UK.
Many, like me, are not smoking at all. Making electronic cigarettes
medical devices will morph what we use now into useless "look a likee"
cigarettes manufactured by medical companies, or compliant wealthy
electronic cigarette companies, to standards set by legislators who
think anti tobacco rather than anti harm. The result of the vote on the
8th in Brussels will have the most important outcome for millions of
vapers in the EU. Making them "medical devices" is against current,
modern thought. And will be a Labour Party policy error of extreme
stupidity, going against the flow of learnt wisdom.

Please do not do it.

Yours sincerely

My Chris Davies letter request is here below with all the email addresses you need! Go for it vapoteurs!

E-cigs - I need your help

Dear Friend,

The European Parliament will vote on October 8
to determine its position as to whether to classify e-cigarettes as
medicines, potentially restricting their availability, adding cost and
forcing some manufacturers out of business.

I believe that e-cigarettes could be a game changer in helping people
to get off tobacco and live healthier lives. My impression is that
there is growing momentum behind this view but we are still some way off
winning the vote. We need a positive and decisive result to ensure
that e-cigs remain at least as available as tobacco products in order to
send a strong message to those who will be negotiating a final
agreement between MEPs and EU governments.

This is why I need your help.

Obviously we need support from MEPs in 28 different countries but
Parliament's rapporteur (team leader if you like) is British Labour MEP
Linda McAvan. Until now she has supported the medicines regulatory
approach, and so have all her British Labour colleagues. If they can be
persuaded to move it could make all the difference. We can already
count on the support of my Liberal Democrat colleagues, together with
British Conservatives. On this issue even UKIP MEPs may cast a vote,
and if they do it will be along the lines we wish.

I have attached the email addresses of Labour MEPs to the bottom of this email.

The most effective way of persuading them is NOT to send identical
e-mails to all. I would encourage you to write only to the MEPs for the
region in which you live, and tell your personal story about why e-cigs
have made a difference to you.

With regards

Chris Davies MEP
Liberal Democrat spokesman on the environment and public health committee